Musician Rights Forum (MFR) has said it will focus much on rights of musicians. The was a gap in terms of rights of musicians and that it wants to look into those affairs and not necessarily replicating roles of other players such as Copyright Society of Malawi (Cosoma) and Musicians Union of Malawi (Mum).

MRF was founded in 2020 and registered in 2022 by the government of Malawi under trusteeship.

MRF vice Charperson Stanley Nyandoro Mthenga said they are mainly concentrating on rights of musicians and they are looking at other projects like training musician both urban and rural. There will be a memberships but the programmes they will be running will target even those who are not members.

The development was part of growing the music industry,” said Mthenga.

He added that it is not competition or fighting creative organization that are there. There are issues that other organizations are failing to fulfill, and that is where they are coming.

Gone are the days when musicians “should only be considered when there is terminal illness or death,” said Mthenga.

Humprey Mpondaminga Director of Arts in the Department of Arts in the Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture, said they have welcomed MRF.

On Tuesday during MRF sensitization meeting held at Capital City Motel in Lilongwe, Mpondaminga said they have looked at their role in the sector and those of other players and they found out that they are doing something different.

“It was time that musicians were formally recognized as part of the labour market,” said Mpondaminga.

He further said that there are number of issues but one of the critical one is how much an artist is being paid, there must be a minimum wage.

Mpondaminga said the issue of lobbying for things for the betterment of the creative industry, including removal of tax weaver on music gadgets, can work better if musicians came together and operated in proper groups like MRF.

The right thing to do is by speaking with one voice or through organizations like MRF.Musicians, need to work on the agenda and submit such an issue that we should engage the Minister of Finance.

Source:Times

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